Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by kbe

And I was under the opinion Mugler was no country for old men. Go figure.

I see what you did there

I think everyones given reasons sound pretty plausible, whilst I tend to think A*Men is designed for younger in mind they may not be the ones actually finding and buying the stuff as I tend to think most of them would stick to the well knowns AdG and CK etc.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by anewtypedude

I visited my local Macy's today to try out A*Men Pure Havene and Mugler Cologne. As I was sniffing them, the SA who is a middle-aged lady, told me that I am the only young man who has ever asked her about Thierry Mugler colognes. She told me they are more like "old men" colognes because everyone she has sold a bottle of Thierry Mugler to has been an older man. She then told me that usually deep and dark scents that Thierry Mugler likes to produce are preferred by older man and younger man like myself always gets the fresh scents. And she pointed out that this section of the fragrance counter (Thierry Mugler and Boucheron) are the old man fragrances that is why they placed them on the same counter.
Is she crazy or is there some validity to what she was saying?

Find a new SA, at another retailer if necessary. That one is not being helpful.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Always keep in mind that sales assistants aren't experts. They don't go to school to study perfume. They don't undergo rigorous training. They're just guys and gals working hard at retail jobs to pay the bills and they're usually not particularly well paid. Very often, customers will know more about the products than the sales assistants, not because sales assistants are dumb. It's just that the person buying a product tends to be more invested in it than the person working at a place that sells it, especially if the product is related to work or a hobby. That's true for a perfume counter, and it's true for just about every other kind of retail too.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by kbe

I am of the opinion that most young men just starting out in the world of fragrance are influenced to do so by other young men already wearing fragrance or the open-and-sniff ads in periodical magazines (Calvin Klein, Ralph Loren etc.) aimed at younger men.

This is what I was going to say, that the less experienced fragrance buyers can only bring with them their own experiences, which would be as a percentage of their experience, more influenced by Media than an older person.

And I also agree with the SA that as a person gets older, that the darker heavier, more gravitas filled fragrances take on more importance for an older man. They help project gravitas to the world...

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

I think you're leaving out relevant info. How old do you appear, and what was she pushing?
I was in Macys two weeks ago purchasing a gift (ck one summer) and the frags being pushed
were a)Le Beau Male JPG b)Salvatore Ferragamo Acqua Essenziale and c)Issey Miyake Sport.
All Beaute Prestige products, all no go for me.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by Attila

I know her.
yesterday was her second day at work.

like

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Originally Posted by L'Homme Blanc Individuel

Always keep in mind that sales assistants aren't experts. They don't go to school to study perfume. They don't undergo rigorous training. They're just guys and gals working hard at retail jobs to pay the bills and they're usually not particularly well paid. Very often, customers will know more about the products than the sales assistants, not because sales assistants are dumb. It's just that the person buying a product tends to be more invested in it than the person working at a place that sells it, especially if the product is related to work or a hobby. That's true for a perfume counter, and it's true for just about every other kind of retail too.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by L'Homme Blanc Individuel

Always keep in mind that sales assistants aren't experts. They don't go to school to study perfume. They don't undergo rigorous training. They're just guys and gals working hard at retail jobs to pay the bills and they're usually not particularly well paid. Very often, customers will know more about the products than the sales assistants, not because sales assistants are dumb. It's just that the person buying a product tends to be more invested in it than the person working at a place that sells it, especially if the product is related to work or a hobby. That's true for a perfume counter, and it's true for just about every other kind of retail too.

Very well said.

I seems the SAs comments were her legitimate opinion on her observations of who purchases Mulger. Might be incorrect from a factual standpoint, but it still may be her legitimate firsthand observation.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

It's Macy's! They don't know $#¡÷! And for the most part the stuff they sell is so mainstream it is boring. The most they know is thr number on their comission check. I am officially old now and wear whafever I want and like.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Remember also that many of these people are not store SAs but private vendors.

So you go up to someone saying "do you have dior homme" and they will say "yes we do...it sucks and smells like a woman's purse....have you tried the new tom ford noir? it is amazing...ladies go crazy for this one" and of course that person works for TF not for Neiman Marcus like you assumed he/she did!

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

It's true, Boucheron does skew to old...ladies, that foul floral stench that smells like a hot summer night at the Bingo hall after the air conditioning broke down and grandma and her girls were baking in their own juices at about 125 degrees...

As for Mugler, I don't know, I think older suit wearing crowd might enjoy the longevity as well as it's likeness to 80s power frags in terms of longevity and projection, but I wouldn't say the scents are "old" per se.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

The﻿ pushers are vendors, trying to get you into their products. Here's a tip, come in close to the beginning or end of store hours. Almost never a vendor there then. Don't let vendors push something you don't want by offering free stuff. Here's another, smell your shirt instead of coffee beans to clear your palate, it works better. I take pride in helping people find that one scent that makes them happy. I love fragrance, so ask me not them.

A gentleman works at Macy provide some good advices on my youtube page.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

I can see her reaction. (especially here in the U.S.). Most younger people here still gravitate heavily (probably 4 to 1) towards "fresh", "clean", "sporty" type fragrances. (ADG, Light Blue, etc). Granted, the sweeter scents and gourmand scents are making some in roads, but most of those are sweeter than Mugler's scents and don't have the strong older vibe of patchouli, tar, etc. (think 1 Million, La Nuit, Code, etc.). While the A*Men scents are sweet, they also do contain that bit of old powerhouse type masculine underpinnings that many associate with older men. At least that's the way most younger people here in the states that I know of would view A*Men. Basically, anything that has a bit of a edgy or animalic type note doesn't work here in the U.S. with the younger crowd. So they prefer either clean scents, or sweet scents that lean more feminine with no rough edges. Anyway, just my observations with several average younger buyers, so I can understand the SA's comments. I think it may be a bit different in Europe and other areas where they are more open to more musky and animalic type notes. But I can tell you, younger females in the U.S. don't usually like those types of scents (and that's basically who the average guy is buying it to please).

To be completely honest, I've never once smelled A*Men on anyone in public in my area. I just don't think it's a major seller here.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by anewtypedude

I visited my local Macy's today to try out A*Men Pure Havene and Mugler Cologne. As I was sniffing them, the SA who is a middle-aged lady, told me that I am the only young man who has ever asked her about Thierry Mugler colognes. She told me they are more like "old men" colognes because everyone she has sold a bottle of Thierry Mugler to has been an older man. She then told me that usually deep and dark scents that Thierry Mugler likes to produce are preferred by older man and younger man like myself always gets the fresh scents. And she pointed out that this section of the fragrance counter (Thierry Mugler and Boucheron) are the old man fragrances that is why they placed them on the same counter.
Is she crazy or is there some validity to what she was saying?

LOL. Ok. If you want to be just like everyone else go for the mundane fresh frags.
Jeez man, don't be afraid to be different. I was rocking PS Cologne when I was 17 w/o any problems (just for a comparison).

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Two years back, I had my then 16 year old nephew spray A*men, Rochas Man and Animale Animale on his arms.
At the time he owned about 60 scents, courtesy of his generous uncle.
His reaction to all three was that they were disgusting - who would wear such things? He thought A*men the worst of the lot.

He's only a sample of one, but I suspect the SA may not have been far off the mark. Numerous youngsters are now growing up with very inexpensive but very fresh Axe/Lynx, Addidas, Playboy and Nike scents. The older orientals (from a dozen years ago) may well seem old to them.
Regards,
Renato

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

I sprayed some on my arm and asked her if she likes this smell. She told me "who would want to smell like tobacco". She also told me Mugler scents are just "weird". The thing is, she didn't try to push me to buy other scents, suggesting she is giving her genuine opinion.

Re: According to my Macy's SA, only old men buy Thierry Mugler

Originally Posted by anewtypedude

I visited my local Macy's today to try out A*Men Pure Havene and Mugler Cologne. As I was sniffing them, the SA who is a middle-aged lady, told me that I am the only young man who has ever asked her about Thierry Mugler colognes. She told me they are more like "old men" colognes because everyone she has sold a bottle of Thierry Mugler to has been an older man. She then told me that usually deep and dark scents that Thierry Mugler likes to produce are preferred by older man and younger man like myself always gets the fresh scents. And she pointed out that this section of the fragrance counter (Thierry Mugler and Boucheron) are the old man fragrances that is why they placed them on the same counter.
Is she crazy or is there some validity to what she was saying?